pyr8 Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's ! First, we survived being born to mothers who drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.. Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle... Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, Chinese, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY, no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time... We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays, We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla' We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL ! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phill.p Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Galore! Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 Wow, that brings back memories! Riding our bikes down what seemed to us like a 100ft slide, making bows&arrows, going down the shop with a forged note from our parents saying " please serve my son 20 craven A, a pound a week pocket money used to last all week! I went past the village where i grew up a few weeks ago, the playing field is mostly houses now.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexr Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 When I was a kid my favourite toy was my airfix soldiers. At 5 years old we lined them up and rolled marbles at them, by eight I had built an elaborate trench system into the flower beds at the front of the house. By 10 we were using snapits and caps to make 'mines' and shells. By fourteen the 32nd scale German light infantry were being sniped at by a .22 air rifle. When my own son was 7 I got a job lot off flee bay, I don’t think the box has been opened since the day it was delivered. he is now 11 and I doubt they will ever see the light of day. Times change. He would rather snipe at pixels on his Wii than plastic soldiers with the air rifle. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juby trap Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 well said that man, have being saying the same thing myself for a long time and best of all having gone through all that, and more becides we are still here to talk about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12guage Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 Reading that makes me think how identical most of lives must have been :blink: and guess what now we are on here persuing the same sport must have been something in the cheese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeh Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 This has been posted before. In the playpen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted February 10, 2010 Report Share Posted February 10, 2010 it brings it all back, woodbines, weights , jubbly`s and bread that was wrapped in waxy paper that my mother used to wrap my dad`s lunch in .Good old days .I enjoyed growing up in the 50`s and 60`s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchieboy Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 So many of the sentiments and memories on this thread echo mine! What happened to the times when you could go out to play all day without your parents worrying about your safety? What happened to kids playing together rather than hanging about in gangs on street corners? What happened to the days when a mother could put her baby in the pram and put it outside the front door to get some sunshing without worrying about her baby "getting snatched"? What happened to the days when a simple mugging (A very rare occasion) would make front page news? What happened to the days when you didn't need a computor screen to play with your toys? What happened to the days when there was a real community spirit and everyone watched out for each other? What happened to the days when if you got into trouble or did something wrong your dad could give you a good hiding and not have to worry about a knock on the door from the police or the social services for child cruelty? Even the vilage bobby was not worried about giving you a thick ear if he caught you up to mischieve, then he would take you home and tell your dad who would almost certainly give you one round the other ear so you had a matching pair! We respected our Parents and people of authority then, what has changed? I could go on for ever! I was a child of the fifties and I am so happy that I was able to experience times like that, sadly times we will never see again! I can remember all of these things, and more. Things like when my weekly pocket money was 5 shillings a week (25 pence in todays money) and if we wanted more we had to earn it! I used to breed New Zealand White Rabbits for the table to make extra pocket money, and when it snowed to hard for us to get to school (Which was about 8 miles away) I used to wrap up warm with my wellies on and go out clearing snow from peoples paths and driveways to earn extra pocket money (The winter of 62/63 saw me earning a heck of a lot of money) - You see we respected money in those days rather than taking it for granted like so many kids today do! Those were the days when at 14 years old you could go to the Post Office and pay 10 shillings for a gun licence and legally buy a shotgun, I did and used to use mine (A Robers S. Garden Double Barreled 16 bore) to shoot rabbits which would all go for the pot, either to my parents or to the neighbours in exchange for a "few bob to buy some more cartridges with"! If you were to tell todays children about times like that they would think you were telling then some sort of "fairy story"! Us children of the 50's and 60's need to treasure our childhood memories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted February 12, 2010 Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 Aye makes you wonder how we survived. Of course law and order prevailed then, plenty of risks of broken limbs and near death water crisises but child abduction and worse seemed less heard of then. Certainly I never had any warnings about talking to strangers, seldom met them in the backwoods come to think of it. Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexr Posted February 12, 2010 Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 (edited) Child abduction and murder rates have been fairly constant since the last war so they did happen ( think of hindly and brady ), we just never heard of them. Edited February 12, 2010 by alexr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted February 12, 2010 Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 Child abduction and murder rates have been fairly constant since the last war so they did happen ( think of hindly and brady ), we just never heard of them. Aye right enough alexr not the media coverage like we have today. Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terence Posted February 12, 2010 Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 So many of the sentiments and memories on this thread echo mine! What happened to the times when you could go out to play all day without your parents worrying about your safety? What happened to kids playing together rather than hanging about in gangs on street corners? What happened to the days when a mother could put her baby in the pram and put it outside the front door to get some sunshing without worrying about her baby "getting snatched"? What happened to the days when a simple mugging (A very rare occasion) would make front page news? What happened to the days when you didn't need a computor screen to play with your toys? What happened to the days when there was a real community spirit and everyone watched out for each other? What happened to the days when if you got into trouble or did something wrong your dad could give you a good hiding and not have to worry about a knock on the door from the police or the social services for child cruelty? Even the vilage bobby was not worried about giving you a thick ear if he caught you up to mischieve, then he would take you home and tell your dad who would almost certainly give you one round the other ear so you had a matching pair! We respected our Parents and people of authority then, what has changed?I could go on for ever! I was a child of the fifties and I am so happy that I was able to experience times like that, sadly times we will never see again! I can remember all of these things, and more. Things like when my weekly pocket money was 5 shillings a week (25 pence in todays money) and if we wanted more we had to earn it! I used to breed New Zealand White Rabbits for the table to make extra pocket money, and when it snowed to hard for us to get to school (Which was about 8 miles away) I used to wrap up warm with my wellies on and go out clearing snow from peoples paths and driveways to earn extra pocket money (The winter of 62/63 saw me earning a heck of a lot of money) - You see we respected money in those days rather than taking it for granted like so many kids today do! Those were the days when at 14 years old you could go to the Post Office and pay 10 shillings for a gun licence and legally buy a shotgun, I did and used to use mine (A Robers S. Garden Double Barreled 16 bore) to shoot rabbits which would all go for the pot, either to my parents or to the neighbours in exchange for a "few bob to buy some more cartridges with"! If you were to tell todays children about times like that they would think you were telling then some sort of "fairy story"! Us children of the 50's and 60's need to treasure our childhood memories! 5 bob a week you rich -------- i got a shilling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyr8 Posted February 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 sadly we will never see the likes again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benbaikal Posted February 12, 2010 Report Share Posted February 12, 2010 fish and chips in old news papers . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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